Tulsa-X

This one takes a little setup to explain but I'll try to do it quickly: All the CW superhero shows (The Flash, Supergirl, etc) tend to do a major cross-over story once a year. And to enhance their superhero universe, the network's streaming service "CW Seed" airs original animated series based on some of the various shows' supporting characters.

This brings us to "Freedom Fighters: The Ray," an animated adventure starring The Ray, a superhero with light-based powers.  He was featured in live action in the 2017 cross-over story line, "Crisis on Earth-X." 

One of the conceits of the various CW superhero shows is that there are multiple Earths on which different characters live.  The majority of our heroes live on Earth 1 but in this story the gang discovers "Earth-X," a reality in which the the Nazis won World War II. 

Why am I talking about any of this?  Well, it turns out our boy The Ray lives in Tulsa!  And his movie starts off in the Earth-X version of Tulsa...or, if you will, "Tulsa-X."  Take a look at Nazi Tulsa:

Looks like the animators did a little homework for the visuals (or at least a quick Google image search) because there are a few Tulsa landmarks that are featured...starting with the Centennial Plaza area near the Arkansas River.

It's not a bad likeness but it's definitely better looking in real life (without all the swastikas).  When you think about it, it's weird that a world controlled by Nazis even has a Route 66 tribute...but that's probably one of those things that you shouldn't think about too much. 

And, as far as Tulsa landmarks go, the most famous one makes an appearance in the series as well, this time on Earth 1:

As I was watching, I didn't think for a second that the Golden Driller would make an appearance (cool stuff like that rarely ever happens for me) but after a while there he was.  It shows up in a montage where Ray (his superhero name is "The Ray" and his first name is "Ray" and, yeah, they point out how weird that is) and his boyfriend take in the sights of the town.  The guys also take in some sea life:

OK, so this one is kind of a cheat.  The boys do some shark viewing at the local aquarium which I am just going to go ahead and call the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks.  The scene is definitely not designed after the Tulsa area attraction but my personal head canon is that the Earth 1 Oklahoma Aquarium looks a little different from the Oklahoma Aquarium on whatever numbered Earth we live on.  But they both have sharks as you can see from the footage I got awhile back.

Aside from a a semi-accurate skyline shot or two, that's pretty much it for Oklahoma related stuff.  The rest of the story takes place in Detroit, Central City (the Flash's hometown) and Earth-X New York and involves The Ray getting the crap kicked out of him by Nazi Supergirl.  Check it out when you get a chance.

Comic Cameos

Awhile back I took a look into why Thor was the official Avenger of the state of Oklahoma.  Turns out, the big guy spent quite a bit of time in the town of Broxton, OK and the town itself was featured somewhat prominently in one of the hammer-swinging Avenger's story lines.

Ever since then I've been on the lookout for other Oklahoma comic book appearances.  The Sooner State does show up from time to time but our heroes and villains rarely stick around to take selfies with the Catoosa Blue Whale or to check out a Thunder game.

So periodically, I'm going to check in on the never ending battle for truth, justice and ever-increasing cover prices to see when there's a little Okie-love.  And we begin today with DC Comics:

Metropolis S.C.U. (Vol 1) #2 - 1994

The S.C.U. (Special Crimes Unit) is a division of the Metropolis Police Department that investigates super powered criminals and the crimes they commit.  They essentially take care of the stuff Superman would do if/when he's not around (and sometimes if he is).  This issue features a very quick Oklahoma cameo:

There's an explosion at the "Soon Mere Oil Refinery" in the fictional town of Glassville, OK.  At least, I assume it's fictional because Google hasn't told me otherwise.  There is a Glassville, New Brunswick so I assume maybe there's a hidden joke or meaning in there somewhere?  It's lost on me though.

"Soon Mere" is also lost on me.  Was the name of the refinery originally meant to be "Sooner"?  And maybe the editor changed it to avoid any issues with OU?  Or am I possibly putting too much thought into it?  There's no way to be sure.  Next up is...

Justice League of America (Vol 2) #20 - 2008

The majority of this story involves the Flash and Wonder Woman yapping at each other about the Flash's latest drama.  But they do take a break to fight off longtime JLA adversary Queen Bee.  Her target?  Tulsa!

Science and Technology Advanced Research, or S.T.A.R Labs, is the premiere scifi-MacGuffin generating factory in the DC Universe.  They have facilities all over the world where they make ray guns, assist super heroes and get attacked by super-villains .  Looks like they've got a fairly advanced campus in Tulsa that needed a bit of an assist from two of the Justice League's big guns.  Spoiler: It all worked out in the end...which leads us to our final cameo...

Supergirl (Vol 5) #35 - 2009

Supergirl finds herself wrapped up in another bloated cross-over storyline that lands this issue smack dab in the middle (Part 5 of 10) of a lot of super-drama involving an influx of Kryptonian tourists chilling out across the planet including the town of...

Pauls Valley, Oklahoma!  This issue was written by Tulsa native Sterling Gates so I'm guessing he took the opportunity to give his home state a shout-out.  Additionally, Pauls Valley is the home of the Toy and Action Figure Museum so I'm sure that helped seal the deal.

So there's our latest round Okie cameos in the four color pages of comics.  More coming soon!  And feel free to send me suggestions for issues I need to check out!